Love Recognizes No Barriers, Especially Not Walls
by conversingraven
Summary: Jaylana "Jay" and Jayson "JJ" are brother and sister (twins) and grew up in Dauntless. Both are the children of Jason Elliot Monahan, who works as a supervisor directly under the leadership, and spent their childhood running amuck and causing trouble. After staying in their home-faction after initiation, they find they are in for a lot.. Eric OC READ CHAPTER 1 FOR SUMMARY...
1. Chapter 1

SUMMARY

..

Two years after Divergent The initiation is done at the age of 18 in this storyline and always has been! There was no war; Eric and Max put Jeanine to a stop alongside the other factions. Things are still rocky between them all, but it has gotten better (three years after Eric's initiation, so he is 21). Eric OC

Jaylana "Jay" and Jayson "JJ" are brother and sister (twins) and grew up in Dauntless. Both are the children of Jason Elliot Monahan, who works as a supervisor directly under the leadership, and spent their childhood running amuck and causing trouble. After staying in their home-faction after initiation, they find they are in for a lot more than expected. Although they planned to be at the top, they find that it is going to take a lot more work than they thought. Not just because of the ruthless leader who is a part of training, but because they found out their father doesn't plan to allow them to work alongside him unless they make the top four, which had been their plan for years.

..

*I'm really bad at summaries! If anyone reads this and wants to create one and send it to me, I'd be happy to use it and give you credit.*

..

*I'm also interested in writing a story with someone else to help with my writing skills. Any story idea, even this one; you write one chapter, I write the next, and so on. So if you are interested in that, let me know!*


	2. Chapter 2

**Jaylana's Point of View**

..

The air around the walls at the top of the pit was thick and warm, though the sun has already been down for hours. Despite the muggy intake of air, Jaylana pulled herself up with a grunt, closing the distance to the glass pane that took up the Pit's ceiling.

She raised her hand and smacked it flat against the warm glass, and a cheer erupted from below. Though the crowd below was small, as it was during the work day, and school day-which she was skipping- it was loud. She smirked hearing her brother Jayson scream the loudest, but wished he had climbed with her.

Melanie had quit out only thirty feet up, and Felix had chickened about ¾ of the way, murmuring up to her something about her being a crazy bitch.

She'd show him a crazy bitch.

Jaylana slammed the hook that connected her holster to the wall with the ferocity of a lion, protecting her, just in case she did fall, and placed her wrapped hands around the rope. Once she was sure that it was secured, or mostly sure, she kicked off from the wall and flew toward the ground.

A mix of questioning cheers and gasps broke out below, replacing the wild cheers from only moments before, but she knew what she was doing. She was only moving fast enough to fall at a controllable speed.

It was an unbelievable thrill, almost as fun as the zip line. Jaylana had climbed the massive building's stairs five times in a single day two year ago after Felix, and her brother's best friend Vance had dragged her there. Since then, she went every Saturday, sometimes twice.

There was no doubt in her mind that she'd get Dauntless as her aptitude next week.

Jaylana slammed to the floor with a solid smack, bracing herself for the impact with impeccable timing. This was the third time she'd climbed the wall all the way to the top, but this time had been in record time.

"Damn it Jaylana!" A voice roared from behind her. She whipped her head around to see that Mika, one of the men who worked under her father, was storming toward her. "Your father told you not to do this again! And during school hours? He's going to be livid!"

He grabbed her and unbuckled the holster, forcing her to remove it. Groans broke out from a few of her friends, her brother and their three friends being the only ones other than her who weren't full-fletched members yet.

Jaylana didn't understand why her father was so adamant that she not climb the wall again, it wasn't even dangerous. Though there was only a small crowd willing to free-climb the walls of the pit, it was perfectly safe. Well, no, it wasn't, but only reason most the people in the factions didn't climb it is that they feared their muscle mass was too heavy to hold against a holster if they fell.

If anything, he should be encouraging her, and be proud! Not only was she damn good at climbing after doing it so much, but it was a good workout. And she had been the FIRST person to put a hook on the wall at the very top of the pit anyway. Before she had done that, the highest hook had been only half-way up. She planned to put another on the other side next week.

"Cmon Mika," she groaned alongside her friends. "You don't have to tell him this time!"

Jayson pushed his way forward and folded his arms.

"Actually, I do." Mika hissed at her and grabbed her by the arm. She threw him off and put her hands on her hips.

Who the hell was he to touch her? She could walk herself! She glared at him and tilted her head up.

"If he hears about this from someone else and knows I didn't tell him, I'd be punished severely," Mika motioned for her to follow him. "You, with me," he nodded toward her twin brother and three friends.

"God dammit Jay!" Mika said to her under his breath. "You just had to choose today, of all the fucking days, to skip class and free-climb the wall again."

"It was perfectly safe; she snapped at him. "I had my holster on."

Jaylana stopped talking when she felt her twin brothers hand on her shoulder and squeezed.

"How about this," Jayson stalked forward, so he was walking in front of her and stood straighter.

His figure took up nearly twice the space that Mika's did, and as they walked next to each other, Jaylana couldn't help but think about how similar her brother looked to their father. He was just like him in more ways than not. She would have envied him for it if Jayson wasn't her best friend.

"You bring us to dad and tell him we are skipping classes," Jayson suggested, "and forego mentioning Jay climbed the wall again, and I promise not to let you go to the West-gates when I take your job in a few months."

Jaylana forced her snort into a cough and covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Jayson was such an asshole. She loved it. Though, she figured that making a deal like that wasn't so bad, considering it was well known that she and Jayson would be following in her father's footsteps.

They both planned to take supervisor positions, hopefully starting out under dad, who was the head supervisor of the gate-guard overseeing Abnegation, Amity, and Candor, as well as the large empty area consisting of forests, fields, and whatever else that was just outside of Amity.

Mika ignored Jayson's suggestions and led them toward the two floors that took up the supervisor's offices, the floor just above them the leaders. To Jaylana's surprise, however, he walked right past the door of the stairwell that led to where her father's office was and up to the leader's hallway.

"They're in a meeting with Jack Kang right now about some security problems they've been having." Mika explained, "it's not pretty. I told you this was a bad day for this shit."

"Then why not just let us go?" Felix finally spoke up. Jaylana had been wondering when one of her friends was going to chime in. "We'll take the next train and go to school. It's not even halfway through the day."

"Yeah," Melanie agreed, nodding her head enthusiastically, her curly blonde hair bouncing in the ponytail behind her head with it. "We'll go right back to school, we promise!"

As they stopped in front of the door to the large conference room the leader's used, Jaylana smiled toward Vance, wondering if he was going to speak up as well. He didn't and instead turned his body so that Jayson couldn't see him and winked at her. She felt her face redden, so she turned away.

"Sit down," Mika said and motioned down the hallway. "They should be done soon." He marched toward Andrea's office, the leader who he was supposedly in a relationship with, and opened the door. Jaylana doubted she was in there, and not in the meeting with the other leaders, so she wondered what he was doing. Before fully entering, he leaned through the doorway before going in, "don't move from here. I'm leaving the door open, so I'll know."

Jaylana walked past the door of the conference room once more, pausing momentarily when she heard raised voices. Jayson pushed her toward the wall.

"Don't be listening in on things you shouldn't," he told her quietly. "You'll get us into more trouble."

Vance slid down the wall and onto the floor across from them, their friends the following suit. He watched Jaylana the entire time he fell and didn't take his bright green eyes off of her until the rest of them had sat on the floor as well. "I told you that skipping school wasn't a good idea," he said confidentially.

Jaylana scrunched her eyes at him, then looked to her brother, who was glaring at his best friend.

"Whatever," Jayson replied before looking away. "Stop checking out my sister, by the way, it's gross."

Jaylana blushed again and elbowed Jayson softly. He should know better than to make comments like that around Melanie! She'd been in love with Vance since they were kids, and Jaylana wanted no part of hurting her. Melanie could be a real vindictive bitch when she was mad.

Vance grinned at the two of them, "I don't know what you're talking about," he said coolly."

Jayson let out a small "harrumph" from next to her and turned his attention to Felix. Jaylana followed his gaze to see that Felix was looking down the hallway with his jaw clenched. What was his problem?

Jaylana scooted across the floor and toward the door of the conference room.

"Jay, what did I say?" Jayson demanded.

Jaylana shook him off with a wave of her hand. "Alright, mommy. I'm just going to sit over here, calm your tits."

Melanie giggled, so Jaylana shot her the best shit-eating grin she could muster.

"Dad's going to be mad enough-" Jayson began to lecture her, but he was stopped short when she raised her hand up to stop him. Jaylana could no longer hear voices, or she could, but they were muffled. And, footsteps! Shit!

She rolled across the floor and down the hall, slamming into Felix. He laughed and put his hands up to stop her, but her force knocked him from a sitting position to lying on the floor. His laugh stopped, and his blue eyes widened as he watched the door.

Jaylana turned to see that Max and Jack Kang had exited first, Max rolled his eyes and motioned for Jack to walk toward the stairwell. Next came a person Jaylana didn't know very well, but what she did know of him, was that he was the dictionary-definition of a prick; Eric Dickhead Coulter.

She'd only met the ruthless Dauntless leader a few times, as he never came over for dinner or had poker night with any of the other leaders and supervisors. Or at least if he did, he never went to the ones dad had held at their house. But, she knew that he was far too young to be as cocky as he was, or as mean.

I mean, it was one thing for the old-timers to act like they were the wisest and hottest shit in the world, but a twenty-one-year old hot-head who was given his position by a woman who almost caused a war? Sure, he was good looking, VERY good looking, like unbelievably smoking hot, and he had been second in his initiation class, but really? He needed to get over himself.

Jaylana was loathing having him involved in their training, especially since this year, the Dauntless-born and the transfers were training together. Complete and utter bullshit, and she knew her brother agreed.

Eric shot them a managing glare and turned toward their father, then nodded his head in their direction and folded his arms.

The moment that Jayson Elliot Monahan turned his head and saw his children and their friends sitting on the floor of the leader's hallways on a school-day, his eyes darkened to a rage that Jaylana had known was coming.

"JJ? Jayl?" their father questioned. Though he used the nicknames he'd given them as children, JJ for Jayson Junior, and Jayl short for Jaylana, his voice rippled with anger. "Why the fuck are you two here, and not in school?" he demanded, his voice barely glancing at their friends.

Jayson shot up and stood broadly in front of their father, Jaylana and their friends following shortly after. Though Jaylana moved slowly, trying not to roll her eyes, her friends had their tails between their legs.

"Sir," Jayson said, beginning his explanation.

By the time he'd begun to speak, the conference room had emptied and supervisors and leadership alike were walking the Candor's leaders down the hallway, each looking in their direction and whispering under their breath. Eric, however, had staying planted in the spot next to their father, as if he'd grown from roots in the floor like a tree.

"Not you," her father's voice bellowed loud enough to echo down the hallway. "Her," he pointed at Jaylana.

Great. Just great.

"Why do you always assume that it's my fault?" Jaylana demanded and stomped her foot. If dad were going to be dramatic, so would she. "You never think twice before point fingers at me!"

"Was it you?" her father questioned and folded his arms. Eric smirked menacingly at her.

Jaylana was about to lie, knowing she was wonderful at it, but the look that covered both Melanie and Felix's faces gave her away. Why couldn't' they be like her, Vance and Jayson, and always have a bitchface?

"That's what I thought," her father said. "You three, get on the next train and go to school. You're a week away from initiation, don't fuck up again." He turned back to the twins standing in front of him and waited.

"I found her climbing the wall in the pit again," Mika's voice came from behind them. He stopped at the half-way point between her and Eric, just far away enough that he couldn't be smacked without extra effort. Jayson cursed under his breath.

Jaylana's father's eyes bored into her, and her friends scurried past them and through the door of the stairwell, Felix shooting them an apologetic look before exiting.

"But what he isn't mentioning," Jaylana said confidentially, "is that I made it to the top again! And in record time. I'm amazing."

She glanced to Eric, who's gray eyes seemed to have lightened. Well wasn't that something.

"Amazing until you fall flat on your back and I end up cleaning you from the floor of the pit with a paint-scraper," her father said flatly. That voice was bad, horrible. That meant severe punishment, rather than the light punishment she was hoping for.

It made her sweat, but she wouldn't let dad see that, especially with Eric there. "You and I both know that you wouldn't be the one to clean that mess up, you have subordinates for that," she joked, waving her hand in front of her.

Jaylana almost gasped when Eric's lip twitched. His eyes had definitely lightened that time.

"Jaylana," her father took a step toward her.

"If I may," Eric interrupted him and stepped in front of him. "Their initiation isn't until next week, of course, but my suggestion would be for me to take care of their punishment."

Um, what? He couldn't do that. Only Max had the authority to punish minors, as well as their parent's, of course. None of the other leaders or supervisors could. And Eric? He was ruthless.

Jaylana watched her father turn to their youngest leader with a raised brow.

"I began training them the moment the choosing ceremony is over, given they choose Dauntless. During that time, any punishment necessary will be left to me. Perhaps they should learn before initiation how important it is for a soldier to obey orders?" Eric offered menacingly.

Jaylana knew she was blushing now; there was no doubt about it. Not only was she scared shitless at the possible punishment this man was thinking of, but the look in his eyes when he gazed at her was sending burning waves through her body.

"Father," Jayson and Jaylana spoke at the same time. Their father held his hand up, silencing them.

"Perhaps you are right," he told their leader. "Fine. I agree. Punish them as you see fit, so long as they make it home for dinner in one piece."

Jaylana's jaw snapped open as their father turned and began to walk down the hallway, she felt her brother tense from beside her. Was he joking? This was not happening!

"Wait!" Jaylana stepped forward, "it wasn't his fault. I tricked him into coming with me." She hadn't tricked him, but it had been her idea to ditch school. "I told Jayson that we were supposed to meet you for something and that you said it was okay that we were late. He didn't know until after we met up with Vance in the pit that I had lied. He shouldn't be punished for my mistake."

Her father's eyes shot back and forth between them. Jaylana kept her gaze forward, ignoring the look of annoyance that Eric was shooting in her direction.

"Fine," her father said. "JJ, you've got five minutes until the train gets here. Go back to school with your friends, now." With that, he turned on his heel and disappeared into the stairwell.

"Don't," she shot her twin a look of warning and nodded in Eric's direction, who had his hands folded. "Just go, I'll be fine."

Jayson gave her a look of disbelief, but knowing there was nothing he could do at this point, followed where their father had just gone. Jaylana kept her eyes on the stairs until he left before turning her attention to their leader. The moment she did, however, she raised an eyebrow at seeing that Eric's glare had been replaced with an expression she could only pin as, well, a grin?

"This is perfect," Eric waved for her to follow him and walked down the hall, then into an office directly across from Max's. "I was just telling Max earlier today I had too much paperwork sort through by myself."

Jaylana followed him into the classroom, confused at what was happening. Paperwork? That was her punishment? She'd expected to be running drills until her feet bled, but, paperwork?

As she entered Eric's office, she looked around, taking note that it was organized down to the paper clips on his desk, which were each arranged in a line beside a notebook. She was a pretty clean person, but this? This was borderline crazy.

She turned back as Eric slammed a huge box on his desk with a bang. He nodded for her to sit in one of the chairs sitting in front of his large well-organized desk and tossed her a folder. He took a seat and leaned back in his chair, skimming through a folder himself.

"I'll only tell you what to do once, so you better learn quick," the leader snapped at her. "Oh, and by the way, Jaylana," he said her voice like it was poison on his tongue.

Jaylana looked up to him and gazed into his dark gray eyes across the desk, waiting for him to continue.

"If anyone asks, I made you work out so hard that you broke down in tears, not that I made you do my paperwork." Eric told her, "got it?"

..

..


	3. Chapter 3

"Jay!" Jaylana continued walking, ignoring the yells of her brother coming from behind her. "Jaylana wait up!"

Once she reached their door, she put her pin code in and ripped the door open. She was exhausted, and her head was throbbing. Eric hadn't been kidding when he said she would be doing paperwork. He'd left her around six to do god knows what, with a huge pile of shit to organize, and told her not to leave a second before ten.

It was only nine. Jaylana didn't care. Fuck Eric and his pretentious-ass attitude.

"Hey," Jayson stormed in after her. "What did he make you do Jay?"

Jaylana walked to her room. She'd had hours to think of something since Eric had threatened her multiple times to "keep her pretty little mouth shut," but she had nothing. At least nothing that her best friend would buy. Jayson knew her better than anyone, he'd see through anything she came up with.

"Leave me along JJ, I'm too tired to talk," she said quietly and made her way to her room.

She slammed the door shut behind her and grabbed clothes, then took a shower long enough that would earn her a scolding from her father later on. After that she went to bed, glancing at her watch before passing out at 9:45.

..

..

..

"Dude," Vance said quietly as they walked down the crowded hall, toward the exit that led to where they took the train to school. "You and I should skip again," he suggested. Jaylana turned her head toward him and laughed.

"I'm serious Jay! Clearly, your punishment wasn't all that bad since you're still walking," Vance said enthusiastically.

Jaylana shot him a look of concern, was he really that dull? She had just gotten done telling him about how her father had woken her up at 11 last night just to yell at her for climbing the wall again, and for skipping class.

She couldn't afford any more screw-ups.

"No one would even know unless one of our class-mates tattle, and you and I both know that no one would dare cross you." he opened the door for her and winked. "We need alone time anyway. If just you and I sneak out, then we can-," she never got to find out what he was saying next, because as Vance was walking backward, he slammed into a hulking figure before she could stop him.

Vance turned around quickly with a look of annoyance, but his face cleared the moment he realized he'd ran into Eric Coulter, who was glaring down menacingly at him.

"Planning on skipping again, Monahan? Surely you and your little boyfriend aren't stupid enough to go against the leader's orders again?" His voice was poisonous, but his glare was worse.

"He's not my boyfriend," Jaylana snapped.

She had no idea why she felt the need to correct him that sense, but it was too late now.

A look of annoyance covered Vance's face, but she ignored it. Flirting with him was one thing, but he was her brother's best friend. There was no way in hell that she'd let someone spread a rumor that they were dating.

"And no, we aren't skipping. So, if you'll excuse us," Jaylana moved around him and started dragging Vance away, but Eric stopped her by stepping in front of them. He motioned for Vance to continue but held his hand up so that she couldn't.

"She'll meet you there," Eric said in a deathly-calm voice. "We need to discuss the fact that you completely disobeyed my orders last night that you stay, in the training room, until 10."

Vance stopped in his place and waited, but continued when Eric turned toward him and all but growled.

Jaylana folded her arms and watched Vance as he slammed the exit-door open and threw his hood over his head. She hadn't realized it was pouring rain.

"I don't think he liked that very much," a smirk had replaced the scowl that Eric had one his face only seconds before. "You saying that he isn't your boyfriend." He explained.

"I don't care, he isn't," she said quietly. "Not that it is any of your business."

Eric raised his eyebrows. "You're going to be my initiates next week, so it actually is my business."

Jaylana couldn't help but glare at him. He was assuming a hell of a lot considering he barely knew her. Again, she couldn't help but wonder what made him act so self-righteous and entitled all the time. "How can you tell I plan to stay here?" she pondered.

"I've seen you climb the wall of the pit many times," Eric kept his arms folded but moved around her, so he was leaning back against the wall.

Jaylana couldn't help but glance down to his arms, which were bulging out of his short-sleeved shirt. The tattoos covering his arms sent shivers down her spine; she wanted to take the time to look at each one of them individually, slowly; very slowly.

"I've watched you train with your brother for years. Watched you run for hours at a time on a treadmill, watched you fight others with no fear at all. I've even watched you intimidate a kid who was picking on someone just by looking at them. You're Dauntless, why pretend otherwise?"

Jaylana stared at him. She didn't remember that incident, but it could have been because his dark eyes were shining mischievously and he was smirking. It was hard to think about anything but him, and how it was so unfair that he was so damn attractive.

"So, you watch me a lot? That's sort of creepy, don't you think?" her voice wavered as she spoke, and she cursed herself inwardly for it.

That was a sign of weakness.

And Jaylana knew better to never let weakness show in front of anyone, particularly someone like Eric.

Eric's smirk grew even more, "just doing my job."

He tilted his head and looked up and down her body.

It made her feel both uncomfortable and extremely happy at the same time.

When she didn't answer him, he pushed off the wall and stepped forward.

He leaned down, so he was only inches from her face, "I went easy on you yesterday, and I never, go easy on anyone. Don't think that I'm going to let you get away with leaving early. You're to go straight to my office when you get back today. I'll let your father know."

He stepped back and nodded toward the exit. "Better hurry, the train will be here any second."

Jaylana watched him walk the other way with wide eyes.

His office? Again? Hadn't he punished her enough by leaving all of his paperwork for her to do?

Screw this; maybe Vance's idea of skipping, not the full day, but part of it, wasn't all that bad after all.


	4. Chapter 4

"Shit," Jaylana said quietly, pulling Vance quickly around the corner of the building.

"Damn Jayyy, at least buy me dinner first before pinning me against the wall and devouring me," Vance teased her and leaned down with a flirtatious grin. She felt his hand on her waist, and he leaned forward slightly, as if he was going to kiss her.

"Shut up," she whispered and hit him softly on the shoulder. "I just saw dad and out there," she explained.

"What?" Vance questioned, lowering his voice, still leaning in. "I thought you said they didn't have meetings in Candor or Erudite until the end of the week? That skipping was safe after lunch because we could cut through the courtyard of the hub."

"Yeah, well I guess I was wrong," she hissed.

Both of their eyes widened when they heard a voice close-by, then a shadow covered the two of them.

"Awe, look at this," Charlie said in a mocking voice. Eric and Jaylana's father appeared behind him; neither looking pleased. "The two love-birds are skipping together again." He turned to his fellow supervisor. "Told you I saw something that looked similar to one of your kids."

Jaylana turned her head back to Vance, realizing she still had her hand on his chest from when she'd pushed him against the wall. He was watching her with the same shit-eating grin on his face, and she realized that his hand was still on her waist as well.

She ripped her hand away and folded her arms, watching him with a look of mock-anger. This did not help her case; not even a little.

"We just couldn't help ourselves," Vance teased and shook his head. "We know that once we start training we won't get much alone time and,-" Jaylana punched him in the shoulder and shoved his hand off her waist.

"OW! Dammit, Jay. That hurt!"

Jaylana punched him in the shoulder a second time then folder her arms again.

"I told you to stop insinuating that we are together you jackass, the last thing you need is my brother kicking the living shit out of you when you've gotten nothing out of it," she explained.

Vance frowned and scrunched his eyebrows.

She shook her head and turned, then pushed past Charlie and kept her head on the ground while she walked past her father and Eric. She could feel the heat of their anger as she did.

"We were just, hiding, so you didn't see us," she admitted quietly before turning around and looking at her father. His face was venomous.

"That went well for you," Charlie joked.

Eric's head turned to him, his eyes all but shooting lasers.

"Not helping, got it," Charlie put his hands up in defeat.

"Hiding?" Jaylana's father's voice was spine-shattering. Not because of the volume, but its intensity. "You were, hiding? Like a coward?"

"No, not like a coward," she folded her arms and placed her body's balance on one hip as she spoke, one leg pushed out farther than the other. "Like a teenage girl who was skipping class even though her amazingly-wonderful and very, very, loving father, who might I add it looking very attractive today, did you get a hair-cut? Woke her up very late last night and told her in a super loud voice her not to skip class again; which we weren't, might I add."

She saw Eric fighting a grin out of the corner of her eye, and when she glanced to Charlie and Vance, she saw that they were both covering their mouths.

"If you check your lovely watch there, seriously, such a nice watch, daddy; very sturdy; waterproof, shockproof, and attractive. Whoever got it for you must love you very much," Jaylana grinned. Her and JJ had gotten it for him for his birthday last year. "We aren't really cutting class, it's lunchtime. And yes, we know we aren't supposed to leave for lunch, but seriously it is just so, stuffy, in that damn building. Vance and I were actually just headed back to school. Weren't we Vance?"

Vance cleared his throat, trying not to laugh. "Yes, yes, we were headed back to the school," he nodded in agreement. "Sir," he added.

"Vance," Jaylana watched as her father folded his arms and stepped toward him. Charlie stepped out of the way and made a "this is none of my business-face," before taking a few more steps away.

"I've known you since you were an infant. We may not be Candor, but lying to me is the stupidest thing you could possibly do; I know when you are lying, and when you are telling the truth." Her father took another step toward him, and a frown returned to Vance's face. "Were you really headed back to the school?"

Vance glanced at her with wide eyes, she nodded her head encouragingly.

"Yes, sir, we were," Vance said confidentially. Much more confidentially than Jaylana had expected.

"Though, I'm not going to lie about it anymore; your daughter and I have been dating in secret for a while now," he nodded sighed dramatically, looking up dreamily and softening his voice. "I'm quite smitten with her, you see; I have been for quite some time now."

Jaylana cursed under her breath. Why couldn't Vance have left it at that? He had to know that he wasn't funny.

Her father reached up and smacked Vance on the back of the head. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to convey his annoyance. He grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and shoved him toward Jaylana.

"Why can't you just be more like JJ?" he demanded and turned back to her.

Jaylana felt her blood boil and her heart sink.

"He never disobeys orders like this. He doesn't waste his time climbing walls and buildings instead of training, he doesn't run around causing problems for me, like blowing up microwaves, or playing pranks on people, or skipping class to go make out with boys behind buildings."

"That's probably because he doesn't like boys though," Vance joked and looked to the ground.

"Shut the fuck up Vance!" she yelled at him, then turned back to her father. "We weren't making out! And I blew up a microwave one time, and it was an accident! Why, are you always comparing me to him?"

"Because he doesn't run around doing stupid shit like this Jaylana!" her father bellowed.

"No, it's because he's your favorite, and he always has been," she told him.

Now she was mad. This was bullshit. Her brother only stayed in line because he was afraid of getting in trouble. There was no room for fear in her life.

"And okay, fine. He's perfect. Jayson always followed orders. He never argues with you. He only does bad things when I encourage him to, but you know what dad?"

Her father stared at her but nodded for her to continue. Instead, Jaylana turned around and walked away, knowing Vance would follow. Once she was half-way across the courtyard, she turned and walked backward, noting that Vance had in fact, not followed her, at least not yet.

Jaylana yelled back to them.

"Jayson isn't going to rank first in our initiation-class; I will be."


	5. Chapter 5

**Advice wanted: should I write from anyone else's point of view? Jayson, Eric, Vance? Let me know!**

..

..

..

..

Jaylana and Vance had made it back to school just in time to walk into their class late, and it had earned them a severe glare from Jayson and Felix. Though, severe was an understatement.

Now that class was over, she and Melanie were waiting for the three of them to meet them so they could head toward the train. Unfortunately, that meant standing in the nearly empty hallway twiddling their thumbs. That is until Melanie had started talking about how she was over Vance and had moved on, then it got interesting.

Jaylana generally paid no mind to the kids in the other factions, but when Melanie had mentioned that the boy down the hallway had supposedly been running his mouth that morning about transferring to Dauntless, she took a good look at because Melanie had also mentioned, she'd thought that he was cute, and had tried to hold Jaylana back as she walked straight up to him. If he was transferring to Dauntless in a few more days, why not get a head-start now? Even she had to admit that he was cute and tall.

"Hey Pretty-Boy," Jaylana hollered down the hall.

The boy did a double take before shaking his head in wonder as if to ask "me?"

"Yeah, you Candor," Jaylana motioned him forward. "What's your name?"

He stepped toward her, away from where one of his friends was standing, and far enough that no one could hear them. Not that she cared.

"Why?"

Jaylana gave him a firm nod to convey her annoyance. "Because I asked," Jaylana explained dryly.

"Because you think I'm attractive," he copied her voice.

She couldn't help but smirk. "Not me, actually. This is Melanie; I'm Jaylana. Most people call me Jay, but you don't the pleasure to do that just yet."

The Candor boy grinned, "Yet? What else will I eventually get the pleasure to do?"

"Nothing to me," Jaylana said again. "Like I said, this is Melanie," she nodded to her friend. "Rumor has it you think that you're going to Dauntless?"

The Candor boy's head turned slightly down toward her short friend, then back to her and down her body.

"Well, I don't think I'd want to do anything to Melanie with you around," he retorted, ignoring her comment about transferring entirely.

Um, no.

"Excuse me?" Who the fuck did he think he was?

"You heard me," he laughed. Jaylana narrowed her eyes at him. Suddenly his golden-brown eyes and blonde hair weren't all that appealing.

"That's my best friend you're talking to," she explained and took a step forward. Who the hell did he think he was talking to?

"If she's your best friend then surely she's aware that you're hotter than her," he shrugged. "Seriously, she's hideous in comparison to you."

"What the fuck did you just say?" Jaylana snapped. Before she could even think about what she was doing, he had shoved him hard against the wall and a hand pointing in his face.

This boy had no idea how unlucky he was that the hallway had emptied. There was no one to stop her from beating his ass.

"T-t-that she's not-"

"Not hot?" Jaylana demanded and popped her hip to the side, folding her arms as she said it. She couldn't even remember the last time someone had spoken to her friends like that. And she sure as hell wasn't about to let some pretty-little-Candor boy get away with it.

"No! No- just not, not, um," he stuttered and flipped his head between the two girls. "Not as hot as you, is, um, all."

Jaylana moved her head slightly so she could see Melanie out of the corner of her eye. It disappointed her to see that one of the people she'd been friends with since she was a child would let someone get away with that.

"Listen, Candor," Jaylana turned back and stepped, so their feet were nearly touching. "If you really think that you're cut out for Dauntless, there are a few things you need to know. Lesson one: when someone invites you to talk with them, you do it, and you do it without being a disrespectful asshole." She leaned forward, so her face was right in front of his. "Lesson two: if you do choose to be a disrespectful asshole, don't ever, and I mean ever, think you can get away with doing it around me. Now apologize."

"But it's the truth," the boy's voice was barely a whisper.

"Did I fucking ask you if it was the truth?" she hissed. "Unless you want me to make your life a living hell, you'll apologize. NOW."

"Jay its fine," Melanie piped up quietly.

"No, it isn't," Jaylana glared at him.

"Jay stop," Melanie pleaded, "you'll get in trouble again."

Jaylana shook her head and backed off, watching the boy slip past her and down the hall quickly. When he glanced back, she could tell that he looked frightened. Good, he should.

"Jay you shouldn't have," Melanie started to say, but Jaylana turned to her sharply. Was she kidding right? Shouldn't have told him off?

"Should have what?" she threw her arms up in exasperation. "Seriously Melanie?"

Jaylana wanted to shake some sense into her best friend, but when she thought about it, she'd never seen Melanie get in a fight, or stick up for herself. Usually, no one messed with her because JJ, Felix, and Vance were always around to keep them in check. And her, of course.

Melanie shrugged lightly and looked away, "you scared him. Even if he does transfer to Dauntless, he's never going to talk to me now."

"Oh, Fuck me!" Jaylana sighed. "Melanie! Talk to you?" Jaylana motioned to where the Candor-boy had disappeared to. "The only time you should ever let a man talk to you like that is if he's tied up to your bed frame and you're riding him like a horse with a knife in your hand. Or vice-versa."

Melanie's eyes had widened, and Jaylana was going to continue, until noticed that her gaze wasn't on her, but behind her.

"Is that a fantasy of yours, Monahan?" A thick voice came from behind her, sending a shiver down her spine.

Jaylana cursed inwardly. Great timing Eric. Why the fuck was he even here anyway?

"Actually," she turned around and tilted her head. Heat coursed through her veins at seeing him. Instead of his usual scowl, his lips were tilted slightly upward; as if he was actually enjoying something. is eyes were glazed a bit, making them seem lighter than they were.

"Just another normal Saturday night," she said sarcastically.

Sign me up," Jaylana saw that Charlie was behind where Eric.

Eric's eyes darkened and turned to glare at him, making Jaylana force herself to contain a smirk.

Jaylana ignored Charlie's comment.

"Unfortunately, it's likely that this Saturday I'll be stuck being punished for bad behavior because I'm sure you saw all that," she glared at Eric and nodded down the hallway. "So that's a bust."

Eric smirked at her, and along with the glazed look in his eye, it was clear to her now that something was off.

"Actually, your punishment for skipping again is tonight, with your boyfriend," Charlie chimed in. Jaylana noticed that he had a glazed look in his eyes as well, and a loopy smile still on his face. What was the hell up with these two? "Your daddy sent us here to make sure all you little Dauntless-rebel's get back on the train in time and don't try to skip out on us."

Jaylana had a very strong feeling that this punishment would not consist of paperwork. She looked back to Eric, whose frown had disappeared entirely. His gaze was intense though, more intense than that morning, and it sends a thrill through her body.

Great. This was just great. Jayson was going to be pissed.

..

..

"Damn it, Jay," Jayson whispered to her. Jaylana could hear the frustration in his voice. She'd known he was going to react like this.

"Why? Why do you have to act up like this right before initiation? Why can't you just do what you're told? All you're doing is putting a target on your head, and mine, which isn't a good thing considering dad is on the list for leadership. And seriously? Vance? Of all the people you could be fucking around with, and you choose my best friend?" He leaned against the wall of the train-car and folded his arms.

"I just told you that he and I aren't fucking around JJ!" she hissed at him and leaned her side against the wall, so she was facing him. He kept his gaze forward as she spoke, but she knew the angry-spark in his eyes matched hers exactly. "And I'm not putting a target on my head, and definitely not fucking yours. I just didn't want to spend my last week as a kid being stuck in some stuffy classroom, and neither did Vance. So screw off."

"Oh bullshit," Jayson argued. "You two have been sneaking off with each other a hell of a lot lately. He even met you first thing this morning, did he not?"

Jaylana walked across from him to of the train-car and leaned against the wall directly across from him, sliding down, so she was sitting, ignoring the looks from the others as she did.

The only reason she knew that they couldn't hear her and JJ's conversation was because of the look on Vance's face, which nearly matched her brothers. He would have said something if he could hear.

"Vance and I have been sneaking away from you for years to avoid your constant nagging whenever we want to do something fun, actually," she told him. Which was true, more than true. "So that's a bust argument. I mean seriously, that's like saying you and Kirsten Applegate are fucking around because you walked out of lunch together yesterday." She snorted.

Jayson looked up to the ceiling of the train. Though his jaw was still clenched, she knew exactly what that meant.

"Oh C'mon! Kirsten Applegate? I'm not allowed to fuck your best friend, but you can screw around with the girl that will open her legs for literally everyone? Even your better than that, shit JJ!"

"So, you two are screwing?" he tilted his head down with wide eyes.

"No!" she said exasperatedly.

"You literally just said," Jayson was interrupted by a booming voice.

"Will you two stop bitching at each other?" Eric yelled from on the other end of the train car. Charlie stood across from him with a smile, though one of his eyebrows raised as he watched his leader.

No one spoke after that. Jaylana would have, but Eric was distracting her. He was leaning against the wall; arms folded tight against his black jacket, eyes closed. Though his voice had been loud and pounding when he'd snapped at them, his body looked relaxed.

So she kept her mouth shut and leaned back against the car, watching her twin with a glare as she treid not to glance back to their leader, and Jayson glared right back.


End file.
